XJR-15 Restoration

SteveO · #1 02-11-2012, 08:54 AM

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XJR-15 Restoration
As promised, an update on the XJR-15 restoration.

First though – some background on the car. Why an XJR-15? To answer that, I have to go back to my days as a car-mad Engineering student in the early 90s, when I would have been happy to own any car. But in the fantasy car stakes, a couple of cars really stood out: the XJR-15 and the F1. Not coincidently, both shared the same designer - Peter Stevens.

Fast forward 20 years and the fortunes of these cars have diverged to other ends of the galaxy. Yet the XJR-15 remains one of the most remarkable ‘road’ cars of all time: striking yet beautiful design, extremely rare (just 50 built), technologically a breakthrough with its carbon-fibre body - and a fantastic racing heritage.

The XJR-15 is not only directly derived from the legendary XJR-9 Le Mans winning car (it is essentially an XJR-9 with a nice body), but is also the direct antecedent of the stunning Nissan R390, the car that almost won Le Man in 1998, beaten only by the Porsche GT1. You need to be an Oligarch to acquire the former and it is not possible – for love, oil or money – to acquire the latter. The ‘15 also starred in its own F1 support race, the Jaguar Intercontinental Challenge, which was quite a spectacle in itself.

The ‘15 sits in an exclusive little niche then – a race car developed for the road – and offers the kind of experience you can only get when you drive such a machine; raw, visceral and hard work.

I decided to go for one of the 16 race cars (a further 30 or so were built as road cars, but are basically the same). I liked the history (raced at Monaco, Silverstone and Spa) and the fact that a famous racing posterior had once occupied the seat. The car I ended up with was also raced in Historic Group C for a while (quite successfully) and has also appeared, to its eternal shame, in a Jeremy Clarkson video - the one where he decides to see what happens when you put your foot down in a rear-engined 450BHP racing car in the rain – where he seemed genuinely surprised when he eventually spun the car. Nonetheless, I can say that ‘Clarkson was here’ every time I sit in the driver’s seat. I have yet to decide whether I should fit a Clarkson-shaped plaque to the dashboard.

The work required to restore the car and make it usable on the road is quite an undertaking. First issue to deal with is heat: that huge V12 produces a lot and the car does not dissipate it too well, being designed for racing rather than crawling up the Fulham Road. I will be fitting a larger radiator and fans, ceramic-coating the exhaust and improving airflow through the engine bay. The cockpit can also be an uncomfortably hot place to sit, so the firewall will be better insulated, which will lower the noise level somewhat.

The car does have a reputation for difficult handling, certainly when in the hands of that renowned racing driver, Jeremy Clarkson. The car retained XJR-9 suspension but with softer springs and a higher ride height. This was not an ideal compromise and the drivers in the series, most of whom were driving Group C cars at the time, found the car a bit unwieldy. Some work is therefore required to configure the suspension, although it is fairly straightforward for anyone with the necessary experience. Perhaps TWR made a mistake when allowing the cars to be raced with a less than ideal set-up (they ran out of development time!). But it was a mistake that spawned a folklore that has made these $1m legends surprisingly affordable today.

Next issue to deal with is the lack of road-car basics, such as a handbrake or dipped-beam headlamps. Most of this is straightforward but takes time and, of course, money to get right.

Then we have the question of making a 20 year old car reliable enough for regular use. The engines are extremely strong – a detuned Le Mans V12 is not going to struggle with the demands of road driving. However, the engine can be better mapped for the road, so I am going to upgrade the ECU. This is another big job but worth it, as the car will be fully dyno-tested and its hot/cold starting will be flawless. At least, it should be.

Final issue is driver upgrade. The car has a six speed dog box and a rather sharp racing clutch. Lessons are booked.

The first milestone will be getting the engine stripped and re-built. This will be happening over the next month or so.

More to follow as and when it happens….

I have attached a CSC article from about 10 years ago, to give more background on the car, for anybody interested.

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